Planners Back Retirement Center

SUFFOLK — Supporters of a proposed retirement village in Suffolk hope government programs can help make housing more affordable for the elderly.

Suffolk moved closer to getting more affordable housing for low-income seniors Tuesday, when the Suffolk Planning Commission approved a retirement center to be built off Godwin Boulevard near downtown.

Epps Senior Village -- proposed for an 11.8-acre site on a fast-growing stretch of Kings Fork Road -- would include 120 apartments for low- to moderate-income people over 62 and amenities such as a movie room and an exercise room.

Rents for the center are expected to range from $700 to $1,000.

The planning commission's vote was unanimous, but nothing is final until the City Council votes on the center.

"With Suffolk one of the fastest-growing cities in Virginia, we need more affordable housing for seniors," said Willie Royster, a pastor of the Greater Love Outreach Church and principal of GLO Community Development Inc., which is developing the housing with Eton Properties, Inc.

Suffolk's comprehensive plan, which serves as the city's roadmap for future development, calls for more to be built, said Cynthia Taylor, Suffolk's assistant planning director.

Rapidly rising housing costs and land values in the city and region have made the need more urgent, Royster said.

"When people retire," he said, "they don't make as much as when they're working. With all the upscale housing that's going in, there has to be a better balance of medium and more affordable places."

The center's backers hope government housing programs will help people with lower incomes afford the rents.

The complex would be built in two phases of 60 units each over the next few years and could cost up to $8 million, Royster said.

It would be adjacent to the planned 314-home Kings Fork Farm subdivision and a high school and middle school.

Of the 120 apartments, 72 would have two bedrooms each and 48 would have one.

Besides the movie room and the exercise room, the center would include a walking track, a beauty salon and other amenities, Royster said.

"We want this to have all the services," he said, "and things to make people comfortable." *